Steam Charts: Normal Parameters
No 2017 games included
Cor blimey, it's only the weekly Steam Charts! As always, these are based on the accumulated sales on Steam over the previous week, not what's doing best for itself at this exact moment in time.
A nice number one this week, but a rather old-fashioned top ten otherwise - with one unexpected aberration.
N.B. there is NO VENGABUS this week. Repeat NO VENGA BUS. It'll return when it is most needed.
10. Planet Coaster
I thought I'd finished writing the charts but then I realised I'd managed to leave the Planet Coaster entry blank. Dammitall.
Look I'm pretty tired now, so here's a video of my favourite Zoid instead:
9. Rust
I can't find a particular reason for this coming back. I guess it's just never far away from the top ten, and given that this chart rather ably demonstrates that 2017 is yet to provide any big hitters, it was its chance to return. I've not played Rust since its earliest days, but looking at the recent devblog I was struck by how much prettier it is now. Is it possible to play Rust as a sort of walking simulator, or will I be murdered by a nuddy nutter within a matter of minutes?
8. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
I uninstalled Civ VI last night. It was a bleak feeling - and probably shortest time from new Civ game release > uninstallation I've known in my lifetime. I don't know if the issue was with Civ VI itself or with me. I currently have very little free time so a game that is notorious for eating up hours like a dog let loose in a field of popcorn is obviously the worst possible temptation. But on the other hand, I did feel as though I'd seen everything Civ VI had to offer after one and a half campaigns. It's a very good Civ without question, bar iffy diplomacy and some UI insanity, but it does perhaps too strongly remind me that I've been playing essentially the same game for a quarter of a century rather than make me feel as though I'm playing something meaningfully new.
Also I was out of space on my SSD.
7. Watch_Dogs 2
And that was a problem because I really wanted to try Watch Dogs 2. I was deeply uninterested in this in the run up to and even just after release, as UbiSandboxes is another type of game that feels resolutely unchanging, but I keep seeing people tweet surprising stuff from WD2 - social commentary, amazing detail, ridiculous clothes, and generally a sense that, even if it's a muddle, it's a fascinating one rather than a drab one. I shall report back with my findings in time.
Does seem like it's another slow-burn success for Ubi after a wobbly launch though - as was the case for Rainbow Six Siege and, to a lesser extent, The Division.
6. Wallpaper Engine
The first time we've had an application rather than a game here, I think? Team RPS actually burrowed into this the other day, so look for more about it soon, but in short - it downloads and applies user-made animated desktop wallpapers from the Steam Workshop, as well as offering tools to convert videos and GIFs into said wallpapers. I shall leave you to guess as to what kind of wallpapers are proving most popular among the Steam userbase, and then we'll see whether you got it right or not when we look at it in greater length later.
5. Grand Theft Auto V
I wish I hadn't said that thing about the Venga Bus earlier. I could really use it right now.
4. H1Z1: King of the Kill
King of the Kill King Of The Kill Kling Of the Krill Kring Of The Klill She kills seakings on the killshore.
Also Graham and Brendy weren't very impressed with it.
3. The Forest
Also joining this week's roster of 'Steam's greatest hits, 2013-2015' is 2014 singleplayer sandbox horror game The Forest. The reason for that is now-expired 33% price cut, down to $10. No, you're too late, now sorry.
The Forest is still in early access, but apparently it does have a proper endgame these days. We haven't looked at in earnest since 2015, and I've never tried it at all - I'm sorely tempted to do so now.
2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
1. Astroneer
The number one game is also the top ten's most recently-released game, having turned up in mid-December 2016 (even Wallpaper Engine first came out in October). You'll notice that still leaves us with a total absence of actual 2017 games (we did have Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth+ last week, but it's gone already). Granted, we're only a couple of weeks in now, but c'mon, let's look a little more contemporary, eh? Fingers crossed that Pit People's current hot streak last longs enough to give me something new to write about next week.